A New Voice for Episcopalians

Ernesto Medina knows he has an important role to fill as one of the few Latino priests working in the predominantly white Episcopal Church.

He knew it 13 years ago while he was in the seminary. He was giving a liturgy class in San Francisco, and shortly after the session ended, three older Latinas approached him, crying, to thank him. It was the first time they had seen Latino leadership in their church.

In January, Medina was inducted as the Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese’s provost. It was the first time the church had appointed a Latino provost--the person responsible for overseeing the day-to-day administration of a diocese’s cathedral center--in the United States.

“This is a traditionally white church that’s just beginning to understand that it’s not anymore,” said Medina, a 40-year-old native of San Diego. “It hasn’t opened its eyes. We are an incredibly diverse church.”

The Los Angeles diocese has the church’s highest concentration of Latinos. They make up 10,000 of the 85,000 Episcopalians in the diocese’s six counties and 148 parishes. Yet, of 510 priests in the diocese, only about 20 are Latinos. Nationwide, Episcopal leaders say they have not tabulated the number of Latinos in their 2.5-million national membership.

Although Medina’s ability to reach the Latino members isn’t questioned in Los Angeles, where he gives well-attended Spanish-language Eucharists, he wonders what kind of response he will receive when meeting with other diocese leaders. His broadest national exposure will come in April, when the church holds its annual conference in Oklahoma City. There, the leaders will share liturgical methods, including what Medina refers to as his Authority of Generations approach.

“It’s a voice they haven’t heard before,” said Floyd Naters Gamarra, commissioner for multicultural ministries and congregational development in the diocese.

Medina says his method takes a simple question, such as “Where did I see God today?” and allows individuals of all ages to respond. Someone may bring a cross from home. Another may recall a sunset on the beach. Any response is praised with a song from the group. In the end, all of the stories link together, Medina says. The method “transcends many cultural barriers.”

The Episcopal church historically has included several African American provosts (similar to “deans” in some Episcopal cathedrals) in cities such as Detroit, Minneapolis and Washington. However, the number of Latino ministers has remained stagnant. Medina is one of only 275 active Latino ministers.

Born to Mexican American parents, he grew up in a Roman Catholic household with three brothers. During seventh grade, his family stopped attending church, though he is still not sure why. Three years later, he began attending services at a local Episcopal parish, simply because a girl he liked worshiped there.

He decided to become a priest several years later, a vocation he had toyed with before. “The idea was funny to me. One day, I thought about it [seriously]. And I guess it wasn’t funny anymore.”

In 1988, after graduating from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, he was ordained to the priesthood. From 1988 to 1994, he worked in Escondido, Upland and as interim pastor for a year at St. Edmund’s Church in San Marino. In 1995, he was appointed missioner for Christian Education for the Los Angeles Diocese. As the provost, Medina is also pastor at the Cathedral Center of St. Paul, the administrative and ministry hub of the diocese in Echo Park. Medina was already acting

provost last December when an Echo Park apartment building a block away collapsed, killing one man and leaving two dozen families homeless. He immediately opened the spacious cathedral complex to the victims. The church became a focal point for the dazed and disheveled survivors. Meals were prepared in the cathedral’s full-service, catering-sized kitchen. The building’s former residents ate in the dining hall. Red Cross volunteers and others provided counsel in a nearby meeting room. Clothes were distributed at the site. Later, Medina organized a thank-you celebration honoring hundreds of firefighters, police officers and volunteers.

Medina’s cathedral office overlooking Echo Park is simply decorated. Amateur photos he took in Alaska and the Grand Canyon hang on the wall next to a poem, “Holy Week,” that he wrote in three minutes. Pictures of his wife, Susan, his 11-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, and his 14-year-old son, Eric, clutter a desk and table. Colorful reminders of his Mexican heritage, crosses and cards, add spice to the room. His clock is still an hour ahead.

“My mom still reminds me not to get a big head,” Medina said, smiling. “But sometimes I look around and I can’t believe how lucky I am. I love to think that I would have this same position in a different diocese, but I’m not sure.”